It's his bitter proof against the populist right as well as the Left, whose socioeconomic abstractions cannot appeal anymore. Winner of the Orwell Prize in 2018, this is a book written in a fine Orwellian tradition of honesty, originality and clarity. Like Orwell, Darren McGarvey 'has a facility with words and a power of facing unpleasant facts', giving insight with pathos and identifying hypocrisy deftly. Also like Orwell, McGarvey is not afraid to take on the Left and find credit where it is due in would-be opponents, whilst riling against the theft of personal agency characteristic on this side of the political divide. McGarvey initially regards intersectionality as a means to broaden the pursuit of social justice for a wider range of marginalised and discriminated groups, but then becomes critical, contending that many public expressions of intersectionality have become “illiberal, censorious and counterproductive” (p.155). He then goes on to claim that rather than providing an emancipatory ally of class politics, intersectionality has become engaged in a form of class discrimination, having become ‘gentrified’ by universities and middle-class activists. McGarvey believes that the ‘gentrification’ of intersectionality has excluded many from the socio-economically disadvantaged communities of the UK at the expense of other marginalised groups because they do not fit a preconceived and ‘approved’ model of disadvantage. Poverty Safari: Understanding the Anger of Britain’s Underclass was the winner of the Orwell Prize, 2018. Worst of all, after a while it all seems normal. It becomes hard to imagine a lifestyle where there isn’t always the imminent threat of violence. As we’ll see in the next blink, we’ll explore how this feeling is expressed in the world outside of Pollok.

Poverty Safari by Darren McGarvey | Goodreads Poverty Safari by Darren McGarvey | Goodreads

A read that really had me questioning how I think about modern day class in Britain, as well as my own politics (which I wasn't expecting going into it). Particularly unexpected (and powerful as a result) were McGarvey's arguments in favour of personal accountability: As well as greater empathy, McGarvey’s other antidote to fixing our broken politics is to reclaim ‘the idea of personal responsibility from a rampant and socially misguided right wing’. He has changed radically (now sober and living with his partner and baby son), so why can’t others?What makes a neighborhood valuable? For McGarvey, it’s about a personal connection to the place. A neighborhood matters because it’s where your roots are. However, wealthy newcomers to a city may have different concerns. They may care less about a neighborhood’s history and care more about trendy cafés with names like Soy Division. The authenticity of McGarvey’s message confers an ambassadorial role as a representative of the socio-economically disadvantaged communities for whom he advocates. And who is the message for? Those who are privileged by virtue of the lottery of where and to whom they were born. Those who haven’t lived the experience of being poor with all that accompanies it. As uncomfortable as it may make us feel, that would include many EPs, myself included.

Poverty Safari: Understanding the Anger of Britain’s

This passionate polemic on the causes of poverty by the Scottish rapper and social commentator known as Loki won this year’s Orwell prize. It is also a memoir of growing up in Pollok,Glasgow, where McGarvey was “well adjusted to the threat of violence”. He reveals various traumatic recollections from his childhood regarding his alcoholic mother, who would eventually succumb to cirrhosis of the liver as a result of her drinking, dying at only 36 years old. His story is one of triumph over the odds, overcoming demons and very much an inspiration to the millions of people who find themselves in equally distressing circumstances.

People from deprived communities all around Britain feel misunderstood and unheard. Darren McGarvey, aka 'Loki' gives voice to their feelings and concerns, and the anger that is spilling over. Anger he says we will have to get used to, unless things change. This book is maybe 5% safari, and 95% theory and explaining of things. Not what I signed up for. Somewhere in the middle of the book, MacGarvey himself makes a joke that he sold the book as a "misery memoir" -- making fun of himself for talking so much theory and not so much personal anecdotes. Ha ha -- where's my misery memoir, dude?!? People from deprived communities all around Britain feel misunderstood and unheard. Darren McGarvey aka Loki gives voice to their feelings and concerns, and the anger that is spilling over. Anger he says we will have to get used to, unless things change. This then presents another challenge for EPs. As well as seeking to use our professional voice to support and advocate for marginalised and disadvantaged communities, are we also a profession that really listens to the communities that we serve? Are we a profession that seeks to facilitate and empower the solutions that local people advocate to their identified needs? I’m not sure I have the answers to these questions yet, but they’re certainly worth considering. And for that reason, I’d really recommend reading this book which doesn’t shy from asking them. The book is divided into 32 short chapters, self-deprecatingly described by McGarvey as a “series of loosely connected rants that give the appearance of a book” (p. xxv). The result is a pleasingly accessible book for those pressed for time (such as trainee EPs) as each chapter does not take long to read. Class Matters

Poverty Safari Summary of Key Ideas and Review - Blinkist Poverty Safari Summary of Key Ideas and Review - Blinkist

There's no way someone like me would have been given the opportunity to write a book like this had I not draped it, at least partially, in the veil of a misery memoir. Okay then, first, we need to create the illusion of objectivity. It seems the most effective way to do this would be to completely dehumanise my family and me, to look at our experience through a statistical lens.Now let me say that I'm aware some may disagree that these two cases are connected. Some may even think it vulgar that I have chosen to contrast them in this way. But equivalences like this are precisely how many of us arrive at our opinions. What I've just done is what people generally do when they turn on the news; observing complicated matters from a distance, we rush to conclusions about the nature of society and our place within it. These conclusions become the basis of new beliefs whether they are true or false. Essentially asking the left to internalize the core of neoliberal ideology "there's no such thing as a society". (This is the line at which I stopped reading the book.) As for the anecdote he provides of the different class-based motivations for the emotional upset of children in a playgroup - well, all I can say is that if this really happened, McGarvey has no business working with vulnerable people and children. If he has no awareness that children with "Bearsden accents" can feel emotionally upset, and that only working-class children have feelings that are worthy of attention, then I actually despair!

Books: Poverty Safari: Understanding the Anger of Britain’s

When one political party blames another for the problem, it creates a false impression in the public mind that this complex issue is within the competence of one political actor or group to solve. This is a dangerous oversimplification. An oversimplification which forces us to cast one another as heroes and villains in the long-running saga of poverty, often based on our unconscious bias, false beliefs, and, increasingly, our resentments. Just like stress creates a demand for relief through alcohol, food, and drugs, so too does our refusal to get serious about grappling with the complexity of poverty; creating a demand for the sort of political juvenilia that reduces every person to a caricature and every issue into a soundbite. These partisan rivalries are now so toxic that the idea of getting round the table with your opponents, in good faith, is almost laughable. Proposing such an idea is regarded widely as naive.The other big theme is that of personal responsibility. The author believes that his life got a lot better when he stopped trying to externalise blame for all of his problems. In taking responsibility for his own diet, lifestyle and mental health, his own quality of life improved considerably. This is obviously a lot more complicated than it sounds, and much more difficult for those who grow up in poverty, but the point being that it didn't take a big political change. He throws down the gauntlet to the reader to take responsibility for the things we do have control of, especially those things which contribute to our health in our day to day lives. He reminds well intentioned people that they may become complicit in perpetuating problems by appearing to suggest that external factors are the key. Yes, better town planning and sensible regulation could make it easier for people to live healthy lives, but that only takes us so far. I expect that some readers may disagree strongly with McGarvey’s analysis of intersectionality and its place within the broader discourse of social justice. Nevertheless, it remains likely that his perspective will be shared by some who live amongst the socio-economically disadvantaged communities that the EP profession serves. This perspective maintains that the white working class are not being heard and are being drowned out by competing voices that are also advocating for their own legitimate social justice needs. My mother lived with us until I was about ten. During that decade, she left a life-altering trail of carnage in her wake; each year her behaviour was more bizarre and unpredictable than the next.”